In the session “Putting on Your Own Oxygen Mask First” I learned differences between “stress relief” and “resilience.”  Ricky Robertson pointed out that stress relief is a form of pain management.  It’s great to do, but does not solve the root problem that is causing the stress.  In order to deal with the root problem of stress we need to build resilience.

Factors in building resilience include

getting enough sleep

a healthy diet

setting and maintaining boundaries for ourselves

expressing our needs

making a plan

developing and maintaining supportive relationships

engaging in a spiritual community

therapy

medical care

 

The “Self Care Wheel,” developed by Olga Phoenix, has six sections which, when balanced, help us move toward balanced mental health.  The six sections are physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, personal and professional.  A copy of it is attached.

As I attempt to resolve the stress in my job and in my life, I have found the Self Care Wheel to be useful in acknowledging strengths and finding areas for change.

Best practices in education include helping our students build resilience.  I have concluded that I can work toward building my own resilience and that of my students at the same time.  I will begin with Whole Body Listening: I now have the book and poster.  I have added Velcro to the poster and the word labels and picture labels so that we can put the words on the poster and we can put the pictures on the poster.  The main reason I like Whole Body Listening for kids with Listening Larry is that it gives reasons for why we should be listening.  Understanding why, even at a basic first grade level, I hope will help students not only listen, but also develop empathy for those speaking.  This can help build supportive relationships among the class and will also move us toward being able to express our needs in the learning environment.

Other areas for my own resilience include sleep, healthy diet and setting work/home boundaries.  I haven’t figured out how to do this job in less than 60 hours a week and it takes over my life.  [Life?  what life?  I’m supposed to have a life?]  I’m pretty “out of whack” but I’m making a plan that includes myself and my students – another of Ricky’s resilience builders.  My action plan includes both classroom resilience and personal resilience.

I love adding the heart piece to teach about the importance of caring about what others say. I am going to teach kindergarten next year and am planning to use Mr. Potato Head to introduce whole body listening. I will now have to give him a heart! Thank you for sharing your strategy.

@ Joan, Thank you so much for coming back and giving us this update. This is the kind of feedback we live for here at Teaching Channel~! We're so glad that this strategy worked out well for you! Cheers~

Update - I implemented this strategy in my pre-k classroom. It's a charm! My students this year have been practicing this concept for 4 months and all I have to say is "body listening" and I have their complete attention! Thanks so much!